The Eyes and the Impossible

Paintings serve as a motif of The Importance of Beauty and Balance. Johannes’s fascination with artwork sets him apart from the other animals in the park and sometimes places him in danger. In Chapter 4, a painting of a child in a storm mesmerizes Johannes to the point that he doesn’t notice Twisty approaching him with a leash until it is too late: “While looking at the picture, thinking of other worlds, [Johannes loses his] freedom in this one” (47). As the story goes on, Johannes learns to find balance in his appreciation of beauty. In Chapter 14, Johannes admires a painting of an enormous forest filled with crowned humans but takes care not to lose himself, saying: “Oh, it was beautiful. It was so wrong and right! But I had to look away. I knew I had to look away. I could not get hypnotized again” (86). Thanks to Johannes’s ability to redirect his focus away from the painting, the heroic dog is able to save the toddler from drowning, a scene that stresses the importance of balance.

At the end of the novel, paintings influence Johannes’s decision to journey to the mainland.

Helene tells him, “They’re pictures of all the places and things on the mainland [...] There are millions of things like that, inside rectangles and outside rectangles—more than you could ever see or want to see” (238). The link between paintings and the mainland makes it seem like a place of infinite beauty and possibility to Johannes. Paintings develop Johannes’s unique characterization, shape his relationship with beauty and balance, and motivate him to seek new adventures in the resolution.

Leashes symbolize captivity. As a free dog, the only time Johannes is ever leashed is when Twisty the Trouble Traveler sneaks up on him with “a simple blue rope” (45). The leash is an anathema to Johannes, and it renders the once seemingly-invincible canine shaken and ashamed: Twisty yanks and “[Johannes flies] toward him and let[s] out an involuntary yelp that fill[s] [him] with shame. Then [he] land[s] and realize[s] [he’s] now leashed” (47). Although Johannes’s captivity is brief, the experience of feeling like a kept dog rather than a free animal has a lingering impact on his self-esteem. Later in the novel, Eggers uses the symbol of the leash to convey humans’ escalating efforts to capture the coyote-dog as Johannes “turn[s] to find a Control-the-Animals person approaching [him] from behind, with—with—with— A leash! Another leash” (119). The use of repetition in this excerpt emphasizes the narrator’s horror at the prospect of losing his liberty again. As symbols of captivity, leashes add suspense to the plot, impact the protagonist’s sense of self, and contribute to his decision to leave the park at the end of the novel.